1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera image service system for distributing images of users to terminals of the users in an amusement facility such as a theme park or a closed area such as a station yard or a department store building.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, cameras have been installed throughout in public or quasi-public spaces such as streets, theme parks, station yards, buildings, schools, etc. These cameras are connected to networks so that high-quality image data can be transmitted and received at a high speed due to broader-band communication and higher-performance cameras such as higher-resolution cameras.
On the other hand, in recent years, with the popularization of digital video cameras, anyone has been able to take images with ease, edit the images, record the images in recording media such as DVDs, or copy the images for others.
However, most of images from a plurality of cameras installed in public spaces are used for the principal purpose of security. Only specified persons such as guards can watch the images only at specified places such as monitoring stations, but the public cannot watch the images. In addition, the public cannot easily know for what, by whom and how the taken images are used or where the taken image data are accumulated.
On the other hand, a plurality of cameras are installed for the purpose of security in some quasi-public spaces such as theme parks or department stores. However, users cannot operate these cameras and use them for amusement such as ceremonial photographs. For such amusement, it is general to use cameras brought with the users themselves.
However, in order to take a ceremonial photograph including a user himself or herself with such a digital video camera brought with the user himself or herself, the user has to ask a third person to take the photograph for the user. In addition, there is a limit in the angle with which anyone can take a photograph. An image cannot be taken from a viewpoint where anyone cannot be located, for example, at an angle from the roof of a building.
In some amusement facilities such as theme parks, photographs of visitors riding on vehicles as attractions can be taken automatically and sold to the visitors at terminals or stores placed in the theme parks. However, in such a system, the visitors are not informed when they are photographed. Thus, it is difficult for the visitors to be photographed in the postures desired by the visitors.